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By Isobel Yeo, Florent Szitkar, Sven Petersen, Sebastian Graber, Meike Klischies

Technological advances and the shift towards green energies in the last decades have led to a substantial increase in the demand for metal resources. With rising political tension, and quasi-monopolistic production of some key metals, a secured supply chain cannot be guaranteed [1]. Therefore, the focus of the international research community and mining companies has expanded to the seafloor, looking for additional resources. The seafloor may have the potential to contribute significantly to a secure metal supply in the future. However, we have only investigated a fraction of our oceans in sufficient detail to assess the global resource potential. A detailed exploration of the vast seafloor is currently economically not feasible, due to its extremely time-consuming and costly nature. Seafloor massive sulfides generally form along the active plate boundaries and at active volcanoes in arc settings. However, the resources are not evenly distributed on the seafloor. Large deposits tend to be more common along slow-spreading and ultra-slow- spreading ridges that make up the majority of the global mid-ocean ridge system [2]. Therefore, it is important to establish geological models and exploration criteria in order to narrow down the permissive areas, which are likely to accommodate economically interesting deposits. Based on a detailed study of the TAG hydrothermal field in the central Atlantic Ocean, hosting a large active mound as well as several inactive mounds, we develop exploration methods and criteria to define areas of potential massive sulfide occurrences along slow-spreading sections.

Jan 1, 2018

By Jae-Hyung Park

Since the Industrial Revolution, the land resources have been decreased rapidly as the industrialization. And this phenomenon brings to our mind an interest in deep-sea resource(manganese nodule). Hence, Korea has been participated in the development project of exploiting manganese nodule since 1983. Hwang and cho(1998) studied the economic efficiency evaluation of manganese nodule carrier. But they used the TAMU(Texas A&M University) model, and assumed deadweight and velocity of bulk-carrier. If we use some optimization technique, more economic manganese nodule carrier can be selected and evaluated without limited assumption. In this study, we evaluated the economic efficiency of manganese nodule carrier using genetic algorithms(GAs).

Jan 1, 2003

Welina mai to the 40th Underwater Mining Institute, UMI 2011 - Marine Minerals: Recent Innovations in Technology. Since the first conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1970, the UMI Founder Professor Robby Moore always insisted on actively seeking the participation of industry, academia, and government. History has proven the wisdom of this approach, which is probably the key to its survival for so many years. The UMI is very much influenced by the cyclical pressures of the minerals commodity markets. When minerals demand and prices are rising rapidly, industrial participation in the Institute dominates the agenda, and participants share optimistic and aggressive views of the commercial prospects of the day. When metals prices are falling and world economies lethargic, academic experts continue to provide guidance and breakthroughs in the concepts and practices of exploration, technology, and environmental protection. Throughout the ups and downs, government participants provide a stabilizing force with conservative and environmentally sensitive policy statements, patient development efforts with long-term objectives, authoritative resource assessments and, sometimes, much needed regulatory clarity.

Jan 1, 2011

By I. V. Kubrakova, O. A. Tyutyunnik, M. L. Getsina, A. M. Asavin

An analysis of noble metals (NM) in natural samples is most problematic. Determination of their traces in geochemical samples, in part, for the purpose of deposit evaluation, is a difficult analytical task. A number of international standard reference materials of rocks and ores, in which NM content is certified, is estimated at a half dozen. For example, in the International proficiency test for analytical geochemistry laboratories (GeoPT), which is held by the Department of Earth Sciences (The Open University, United Kingdom), the data for gold and platinum are observed very rarely, and the results obtained in different laboratories differ on 1-3 orders of magnitude. It is caused by low contents of NM in nature, by a variety of their complex and mineral species, as well as by a complicated matrix composition of platinum-containing objects. Among these objects are ferromanganese ores, enriched strongly with Fe, Mn, Ni, REEs - the elements hampering a precise determination of NM due to a complexity of instrumental inter-element correction. The absence of the reliable methods of NM determination in these ores drastically limits the possibility of deposit evaluation.

By Harry J. Olson

Geothermal Energy has a great potential for meeting the electrical and thermal energy requirements of many countries and territories lying along tectonically active zones within and surrounding the Pacific Basin. Energy requirements for many of these small, scattered volcanic island nations preclude development of conventional generating facilities large enough to incorporate any economies of scale. However, by attempting to discover and develop shallow, relatively low temperature, geothermal reservoirs associated with recent vulcanism on many of the volcanic islands, exploration expenditures and risks, and problems associated with the development of high temperature resources can be reduced. Exploration and development drilling for these resources can be accomplished with truck mounted rotary drilling rigs that are less costly and more suitable for operations within the island infrastructures than the conventional rigs normally used in the drilling of deep, high temperature geothermal resources. Experience over the past decade with small, modular, binary (Rankine) cycle generating units indicates that geothermal energy can provide a reliable source of baseload electricity in the amounts required and at a cost that is competitive with other alternative and conventional energy sources. Development of shall, moderate temperature, geothermal resources with small, modular binary cycle generating units can provide ideal additions to the energy sources of many of the Pacific volcanic island nations within the framework of their island economies.

Jan 1, 1991

By Cameron Rees

The University of New South Wales Mining Research Centre (UMRC) has a longstanding research reputation in mining research, with particular expertise in mining systems, mining geomechanics and excavation engineering. The UMRC is now focusing this expertise on the potential of mining Seafloor Massive Sulphides (SMS). The UMRC has initiated a three-year research project that will identify and examine the requirements to effectively and efficiently mine SMS deposits. The major aims of this project are: ? To develop an understanding of the geomechanical characteristics and local physical environmental conditions associated with a ?typical? SMS deposit. ? To develop and evaluate a range of both conventional and innovative excavation processes for mining SMS deposits, and define the engineering parameters required for each extraction option, and ? To identify the materials handling and lifting requirements of the ?mined? SMS material, and the possible integration of the lifting system with the excavation processes considered.

Jan 1, 2002

By Hans Smit

The face of mining as we know is changing as mining companies all over the globe realize the reality of accessing the vast mineral wealth contained on, and under, our ocean floors. With some land based mineral deposits being fully exploited across the world, deep sea mining is set to revolutionize global approaches to the search for precious metals and other sought after minerals. Previously, the financial and technological implications of deep sea mining outweighed the benefits of access to the mineral rich deposits identified all around the world. The process of marine diamond mining off the west coast of southern Africa started in the late 1950s, and subsequently continued by De Beers to the present day, has proven to be an excellent proving ground for the development of technology and mining systems that ensure a sustainable and financially viable business.

Jan 1, 2011

By Isobel Yeo, Florent Szitkar, Sven Petersen, Sebastian Graber, Nico Augustin, Marcel Rothenbeck, John Jamieson

"INTRODUCTIONSeafloor massive sulfides (SMS) along mid-ocean ridges are often seen as a possible future contribution to a secure metal supply for global human needs. A growing interest over the past few years resulted in six national exploration licenses and one application pending, covering 10,000 km2 each, that have been brought before the UN International Seabed Authority (ISA) since 2011. Each contractor has to explore these 10,000 km2 within the 15-year runtime of the contract. However, the need to define areas that are not economically interesting is more pressing, as 50% of the 100 license blocks have to be returned to ISA after only eight years - hopefully areas that do not contain large and economically interesting SMS deposits. Current geochemical prospecting technologies, however, have mainly been developed for the search for active hydrothermal systems (e.g. hydrothermal vents and associated black smokers) that can easily be traced through physical and chemical anomalies in the water column (temperature, chemical variations of elements such as Mn, Fe, redox potential, and/or the particle concentration in the water column). Such plume surveys have been a primary tool for exploration of SMS systems, but they only identify active, and therefore mostly young and small hydrothermal systems. In a recent high-resolution AUV survey performed within the EU-FP7 funded project “Blue Mining”, we covered 47 km2 along the TAG segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to test exploration methodology for fast and reliable exploration of larger areas of the seafloor for inactive seafloor massive sulfide occurrences using the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) “Abyss”."

Jan 1, 2017

By Sven Petersen

In April 2010 three REMUS6000 series autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have been used to simultaneously map large areas near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (3°N) axis in water depths ranging from 1,000m to 4,000m. One vehicle was provided by the Leibniz-Institute for Marine Science, IFM-GEOMAR (Kiel, Germany) the other two were provided by the Waitt Institute for Discovery (La Jolla, USA) and managed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (USA). The REMUS6000 vehicles, manufactured by Hydroid Inc. (USA), are "cigar-shaped" vehicles (4m long and weighing approx. 900kg) and consist of a tapered forward section, a cylindrical midsection and a tapered tail section. An internal titanium strongback, which extends through much of the vehicle length, provides the structural integrity and acts as a mounting platform for syntactic foam, equipment housings, various sensors and release mechanisms. The AUVs can be used in various payload configurations such as multibeam bathymetry, electronic still camera, or subbottom profiler. For these missions the electronic still camera configurations was installed. An EDGETECH 2200M dual frequency (120/410 kHz) side scan sonar was used to map the seafloor, but other frequencies are readily available for more options in resolution and range. The 120 kHz side scan transmitter was used for most missions in order to map large areas (increased range) and to be able to fly at higher altitudes (between 70m and 90m) above the rough seabed encountered in this area. The maximum slant range was between 600m and 700m on both sides resulting in a swath width of up to 1.2 km. Line spacing ranged from nearly 1,000m in flat areas down to 400m in steep terrain. Side-scan mosaics were generated with a 1m resolution. Selected areas were targeted by the higher resolution 410 kHz transmitter as well as by bottom photographs flying as low as a few meters above the seabed. The vehicles navigated autonomously using a combination of inertial navigation (Kearfott T-24 or T-16 INS) and long baseline acoustic navigation by computing their range to two moored acoustic transponders. Working efficiently in this rough topography at speeds above 3 knots was only possible due to the obstacle avoidance capabilities of these AUVs.

Jan 1, 2011

By Paulo Chaves, Márcia Gonçalves, João R. S. Carvalho, Fernando J. A. S. Barriga, Edgar Carrolo, Tiago Luna, Ricardo Rato, Anabela Bento

INTRODUCTION For the last decades, deep-sea marine resources such as seabed massive sulfides (SMS), polymetallic nodules and ferromanganese crusts (Fe-Mn crusts) have received an ever- increasing amount of attention worldwide for their abundance in critical metals and potential commercial value. This interest has mostly been driven by the growing world demand for raw materials, in particular for high- and green-technology applications (e.g., hybrid and electric cars, batteries, photovoltaic solar cells, cell phones, super magnets), as well as by industrialized countries governments other than BRICS states need to secure a more diversified supply of metals, resulting in a new deep ocean exploration boom. Since the oceans and its resources are increasingly seen as indispensable for humans needs and their challenges in the decades to come, this boom increments pressure on marine areas, either in international or within countries economic exclusive zone (EEZ). Since 2002, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has signed up 29 contracts with several entities and national governments from multiple countries (e.g., Japan, China, Germany, France, Russia, India, Rep. of Korea, UK, Canada, Brazil) for exploration for deep-sea mineral resources in international waters, either for scientific or commercial proposes, which together cover over 1.3 million km2 [1]. In turn, over 300 exploration licenses, covering more than 650,000 km2, have been granted within the EEZ of Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu [2, 3]. This number is expected to increase very rapidly, as 77 countries have proposed to the United Nations the extension of their continental shelf in order to extend their EEZ and jurisdiction over potential deep-sea mineral resources [4]. Its estimated that 42% of the potential areas for SMS occurrences, 54% for cobalt-rich Fe-Mn crusts, and 19% for polymetallic nodules lie within the EEZ of coastal countries [5]. In addition, a huge amount of seafloor is yet to be explored and evaluated. Combined, the size of the granted exploration areas represents less than 10% of the overall area thought as most favorable for the occurrence of the 3 types of deep-sea mineral resources above mentioned. This means that today’s assessments on deep-sea mineral resources are only a rough approximation.

Jan 1, 2018

By V. Alexandrov

This paper presents the results of theoretical investigations of the energy requirements of the hydraulic lifting of mined materials from the seabed to the sea surface in the deep-sea mining of solid minerals such as manganese nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton region of the Pacific, situated on the sea floor in water depths of 4,500 m or more. The principal element of the developed underwater transport system is the Underwater Chamber, which is connected by flexible pipeline to a mining machine that gathers nodules from the seabed, mixes them with seawater, and feeds them into a flexible pipeline. In this paper, we discuss the question of the optimum water depth for placement of the Chamber, the interior of which is designed to maintain a 1-atmosphere pressure. We present a method for calculating this depth as it relates to the mechanical characteristics of solid particles, the shapes and size distributions of the particles, particle and slurry density, and other properties. These investigations were carried out in hydro-transport laboratory of the Saint-Petersburg Mining Institute and the hydraulic laboratory of Faculty Environmental Engineering in Wroclaw Agricultural University. KEY WORDS: deposit, nodule, flexible pipeline, pressure drop, concentration, hydromixture

Jan 1, 2005

By Carsten Rühlemann

Between 2008 and 2013, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) carried out five exploration cruises to the German license area in the eastern Pacific Nodule Belt. The first two expeditions were mainly dedicated to multibeam mapping to obtain an overview of the seafloor topography and acoustic backscatter strength. These data were used to identify ten to fourteen prospective nodule fields for potential future mining, which together cover about 16% of the total license area of 75,000 km2. During the last three cruises, three of these potential mining areas were explored in detail. For this purpose, the BGR developed a suite of exploration methods to map nodule size distributions and nodule abundances. These methods include acoustic surveys with vessel-based multibeam systems as well as near-bottom video mapping complemented by in situ sampling. The economically most valuable field has a size of ca. 2,000 km2, of which 34% is covered by medium to large nodules (> 4 cm long axis of nodules) with an average abundance of 22.4 kg/m2 and 44% is covered by small nodules (< 4 cm) with a mean abundance of 17.5 kg/m2. The total mass of nodules in this field comprises more than 30 million tons wet weight and could sustain deep-sea mining for at least 10 years.

Sep 14, 2011

By Carsten Rühlemann, David Friedmann, Bernd Friedrich, Thomas Kuhn

"This paper explores the option of direct reduction smelting of the nodules from the German license area in the equatorial NE Pacific in a submerged arc furnace (SAF). An optimized slag design is proposed to separate the larger Mn-bearing stream from the valuable metals (i.e. Ni, Cu, Co, Mo). The slag optimization allows a maximum of Mn to be retained in the manganese-silicate slag on the one hand and a maximized metal recovery in a FeNiCuCo alloy on the other. This way, the goal is to make use of the complete nodules (“zero-waste”) instead of extracting only the metals Ni, Cu, and Co, which make up about 3 wt%. The process closely relates to the “Inco Process” by the Ocean Management Inc. (OMI) of the late 1970s, which was a consortium of INCO (International Nickel Company, CAN; today Vale Canada), Preussag AG & Metallgesellschaft AG (GER), DOMCO (JPN), and Sedco (USA). However, the manganese containing slag is investigated in more detail to recover FeMn, FeMnSi and/or SiMn. To optimize the process modern tools such as thermo-chemical modeling in FactSage™ have been used. [1,2]Polymetallic deep-sea manganese nodules may offer a decreased dependency of raw material imports for Germany and the EU. Currently, four European countries (United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, and France and an Eastern European consortium (InterOcean Metal)) hold exploration licences for these nodules in international waters in the equatorial NE-Pacific. The license areas each cover 75 000 km2 of the seafloor and are located in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) south east off Hawaii at water-depths between 4000 and 6000 m. The nodules may be used as a resource for industrially important metals such as Cu, Ni, Mn as well as for technology metals like Co, Mo, V and Zn. The average chemical composition of nodules from the German license area is presented in Table 1. [3,4]"

Jan 1, 2017

By Jeremy Spearman, Mark Lee, Jon Taylor, Neil Crossouard, Bramley Murton

"SUMMARYThis paper describes challenges faced when executing a programme of monitoring to measure the dynamics of currents and sediment plumes at a seamount and the solutions identified to deliver the measurements. The study site was the Tropic Seamount, which extends some 3300m above the surrounding seabed and is found at the southern limit of the Canary Island Seamount Province. The purpose of the study, which forms part of the Marine E-tech project, was to provide information on the interaction of flows with the seamount and to assess the behaviour of sediment plumes that could be generated from potential seabed mining operations targeting the recovery of ferromanganese crusts. Since the crest of the seamount is submerged to a depth of 1000m, much of the work was undertaken using remotely operated and autonomous vehicles supported by measurements from the surface vessel. Despite only limited information on currents being available for planning purposes, the combination of short term forecasting using a 3-dimesional hydrodynamic model of the study area coupled with the collection and analysis of reconnaissance data collected during the first phase of measurement activities made it possible to plan and execute a number of detailed hydrodynamic experiments on the seamount crest. The results of these experiments have advanced the understanding of the behaviour of sediment plumes in the deep ocean and will ultimately improve our ability to manage the impacts which may arise from deep sea mining operations."

Jan 1, 2017

By André. C. Louw

Diamond production from the reworked beach and river channel gravels along the west coasts of South Africa and Namibia is well known throughout the world, not only for the exceptional quality of the diamonds, but also for the sheer scope of the operations. To date an estimated 140 million carats have been produced from the resource worth some US$40 billion in today&apos;s money terms. It is therefore not surprising that it didn&apos;t take long before the attention turned towards the possible extension of this valuable diamond resource on similar submerged beaches in the adjacent territorial waters of South Africa and Namibia. This has proved to be a very successful move as the marine production in Namibia today constitutes 48% of that country&apos;s total diamond production. Although small scale recovery of diamonds from the sea commenced in the 1950&apos;s, the first large scale production came from the operations of the Texan entrepreneur, Sam Collins, in the 1960&apos;s. The De Beers Group, which took over Sam Collin&apos;s operations in 1969 had all the concession areas, as well as the financial and human resources to tackle the new mining frontier in the correct way by years of data gathering (ie diamond reserves and seafloor terrain studies) before commencing with large scale mining operations in the 1980&apos;s. Those who are familiar with the beach mining operations along the South African and Namibian west coasts will have appreciation for the daunting task of surgically removing the payable portion of diamond deposits from the non-payable material on the one hand, and the complex uneven fractured and gullied bed-rock floor of the deposits on the other hand. Not to mention the additional complexities of large boulders and hard calcretised diamond gravel layers (conglomerate) which are sometimes associated with the deposits. It was a natural development that the sea diamond mining operations were approached with the known information of the land operations, attempting to duplicate land mining operations in the sea, but taking cognisance of the variations of the terrain in the different areas. For instance, we encounter the following variations, and combinations, off the Namibian Coast. ? Close inshore - holocene sand cover often masks large areas of potentially diamondiferous gravels. ? In midwater areas (40m - 100m)

Jan 1, 1998

By Irina Dobretsova, Anna Sukhanova, Anatoly Kondratenko, Svetlana Babaeva, Sergey Andreev

"With the acceptance of an application and a signed contract for prospecting deep-sea sulfides (2012) between the Russian Federation and the ISA, at present it is particularly important to assess the quality of oceanic sulfide minerals and to reliably estimate their resources.Some procedures of geochemical classification (chemical analyses, mineral composition of SMS) and calculations (density of ore, density of the mineral part of the ore, porosity and moisture contents) were used for estimation of mineral resources potential.The key characteristics for estimating the predicted resources of hydrothermal ore fields are the metal contents and the density of wet and dry sulfide ores. However, in the future it is impossible to provide an estimate of the predicted resources without taking into account the following important factors:- the quantitative ratio of main sulfide minerals;- proportion of non-metallic components (opal, quartz, talc);- the replacement of primary minerals by copper sulfides;- texture-structural features of sulfide ores.The offered mineral classification of the SMS is based on the prevalence of minerals in the ores and partly on their composition. The main ore-forming minerals of SMS are pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. Sulfide mineralization is accompanied by the presence of nonmetallic minerals, where quartz and opal prevail, and where we also meet aragonite, talcochlorite and anhydrite."

Jan 1, 2017

By Thomas Kuhn

Germany?s industry heavily depends on the continuous import of mineral commodities such as manganese, copper, nickel, and molybdenum. Due to the strong increase in metal prices since 2002 Germany?s federal geological survey, the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, hereafter called BGR) applied for a license area for the exploration of deep-sea manganese nodules in the Pacific manganese nodule belt between the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones. A 75,000 km2 covering license area was eventually granted to the BGR by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in 2006. It is separated into two parts: ?W1? (17,000 km2) and ?E1? (58,000 km2; Fig. 1). The BGR obtained initial information on the abundance and grade of nodules in the license area from samples collected during three cruises with R/V Valdivia and one cruise with R/V Sonne between 1976 and 1978 (Rühlemann et al., 2009). Since the accuracy of navigational data obtained during these cruises is outdated and sample coverage is unevenly distributed and sparse in many parts of the license area, BGR has started a new exploration program to investigate the German license area according to the rules, regulations and procedures issued by the ISA for the exploration of Mn nodules in the Area.

Jan 1, 2010

By Jorge MRS Relvas

Recent research both on active and fossil systems has demonstrated that shallow subseafloor replacement processes are not only viable depositional mechanisms for massive sulfide mineralization, but likely contributed as a major component of the mineralization occurring in large VHMS deposits and in many present-day seafloor hydrothermal systems. In the giant Neves Corvo deposit, as in many others VHMS deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, there is overwhelming evidence for silicate-sulfide replacement processes being largely responsible for the efficiency of the ore-forming systems and huge size of the deposits. Textural evidences at all scales, coupled with a well-constrained mass-balance geochemical analysis, indicate that extensive replacement in the lavadominated volcanic rocks of the footwall sequence, and disseminated replacement mineralization in the volcaniclastic and/or sedimentary units were major mechanisms of ore formation in the Neves Corvo deposit. Shallow metal deposition prior to fluid discharge on the seafloor is likely to play a major role in seafloor massive sulfide mineralization. This premise should be envisaged as critical in evaluating the economic potential of seafloor resources, and should certainly be part of the equation when plans for seafloor mineral exploration missions are drawn.

Sep 14, 2011

By Tatiana ?. Sedysheva, Vladimir V. Ivanov, Michail E. Melnikov, Irina A. Pulyaeva

"INTRODUCTIONHydrogenetic Fe-Mn crusts are ubiquitous in the ocean basins and play an important role in marine mineral-deposit research because of their widespread occurrence and high concentrations of valuable and rare metals. Directed research, which started in the last quarter of the 20th century, has provided significant results, with substantial amounts of data produced on Fe-Mn crusts structure, composition, and distribution in the global ocean [3, 4 - 8]. Now, commercial interests gain more and more attention. Mining systems are being developed which involve fragmentation of the crusts and their separation from the substrate. The effectiveness of such activities greatly depends on physico-mechanical characteristics of the crusts and rocks on which they form. This determines the importance of the engineering geological study of the objects.This article comprises the results of the engineering geological studies of the crusts samples (72 samples) and their underlying rock substrates (75 samples), which were carried out during the research cruises 6-06, 6-07, 6-08, 6-13 (2006-2013) on the Magellan Seamounts guyots in the Western part of the Pacific Ocean by the specialists of the State Scientific Centre Yuzhmorgeologia [10 - 13, 19, 20]. The authors of the article directly participated in the studies mentioned above.MethodsEngineering geological studies were carried out on board of the research vessel Gelendzhik and in the laboratories of NPA «Sevmorgeologiya». The studies involved the determination of the following parameters:"

Jan 1, 2017

By Glen Smith

Nautilus Minerals, the world?s leader in exploration and development of deep ocean seafloor resources, is today focused on the recovery of high-grade copper and gold in seafloor massive-sulphide mineralization. These targeted mineralized belts, analogous to land-based volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, are located near plate boundaries in the back arc basins of the Western Pacific. The first deposit to be developed by the company is located at a depth of 1,600 meters at Solwara 1, in the benign waters of the Bismarck Sea. This location lies within the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea. From 2006 to 2009 the company completed detailed environmental and geological studies at Solwara 1, culminating in a number of world firsts, including the first Environmental Permit granted for the extraction of seafloor massive sulphide deposits and the first NI 43-101 compliant seafloor massive sulphide deposit resource statement. Nautilus has relied heavily on proven deepwater technologies from the oil and gas industry in the design of its production system. Pipeline trenching units, workclass ROVs, deepwater production risers and drill cuttings removal systems will be adapted to initiate this new and exciting industry. Key contractors used by Nautilus on this innovative project have all been selected for their deepwater experience (gained in the oil and gas industry), creativity and determination to launch this new industry successfully. Innovation is at the forefront of Nautilus? success to date. This paper summarizes the progress to date of this development which will provide a new source of minerals for the world and which will contribute to sustainable growth for the future.

Jan 1, 2010